{"id":6105,"date":"2026-04-17T09:33:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6105"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:33:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:33:50","slug":"yes-im-going-to-write-myself-well-by-edgar-ballantyne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6105","title":{"rendered":"Yes, I\u2019m Going to Write Myself Well by Edgar Ballantyne"},"content":{"rendered":"

A playful collection of short poems combining deep thought with intense sensory richness<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Starting from the back of the volume, like we would do perusing at the bookstore, we read in the author\u2019s note of Yes, I\u2019m going to write myself well <\/em>that Edgar Ballantyne likes poetry \u201cbecause it\u2019s the shape that thoughts come in anyway.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>That is sadly untrue for most of the rest of us, but this collection testifies to Ballantyne\u2019s seemingly effortless ability to generate pleasant poetic writing.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Ballantyne largely deals with great things, like what it is to be alive, and human, and to love, but in sensorily particular ways, like musing on the magic of sunshine touching the skin or imagining the life of a bird or bug. These may sound like clich\u00e9s <\/em>but their treatment here is admirably original, usually inverting conventions. See, for example, this smart examination of a trite phrase:<\/p>\n

\u201cTime is money\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But spare time is not spare money\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Would have stayed stunted and shade<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Is what would have happened\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To hold that line\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is Ballantyne performing the poet\u2019s duty, which is the defense of language, while also delivering a not negligible piece of truth. Elsewhere, the delivery is more aphoristic, as when it is pronounced that to trust is \u201cwaiting in the snow for the sun to hold out a hand.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth constantly arises from the resilience of Ballantyne\u2019s language, waging battle against triteness. There is also a lot of playing with word order which, not always being immediately clear, keeps the reader on their toes. And, necessarily, the poet plays around with rhythm as well, mostly in straightforward and effective ways. Although tricks, either deliberate or not, are still present. For instance, the simple repetition of a word in the short eighth poem of the collection vividly recalls the rhythms and repetitions employed in the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland.<\/p>\n

Aided by the beautiful photography of normal skies that greets the reader on whole pages after each poem, this collection exudes and produces a calmness, something which is especially valuable in our turbulent days full of \u201cswollen clouds of resentment.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>The poems are characterized by naturalness, as well as humility, and more than a little humor, all quietly contributing to the \u201cincandescent rumbling of the truth.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Calmness, however, is not to be taken for serenity, as the restlessness running through these poems proves. \u201cIf you seek your self,\u201d <\/em><\/strong>we are asked, \u201cthen<\/strong> who is it seeking?\u201d<\/em><\/strong> and the more barren note of loneliness also joins the chorus. It is a book with hardly well-definable subject matter, but we feel persuaded that it is a revered one in any case.<\/p>\n

Only things that are named can thrive and carry on, or so says one of the most poignant poems in the collection before it goes on to smartly invert the phrase\u2019s meaning. That is only fitting since the eighty-two miniatures that make up this volume are identified only by their number, although that makes one wonder two things: why couldn\u2019t there be an index of first lines, and what is the significance of the number that made the author resist the appeal of a round eighty?<\/p>\n

Reading phrases like tears being \u201cdistillates of desire,\u201d <\/em><\/strong>one quickly understands that Ballantyne\u2019s work is the product of real sensibility, and those who appreciate beauty will find plenty to appreciate here.<\/p>\n

The post Yes, I\u2019m Going to Write Myself Well by Edgar Ballantyne<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A playful collection of short poems combining deep thought with intense sensory richness Starting from the back of the volume, like we would do perusing at the bookstore, we read in the author\u2019s note of Yes, I\u2019m going to write myself well that Edgar Ballantyne likes poetry \u201cbecause it\u2019s the shape that thoughts come in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}